Mother Dearest
by Betterbuddy
Summary: A murder takes place at a high-society party. The team is called in to investigate, and one of the suspects is Tony's mother. The team tries to comfort Tony. This is a short, stand-alone, fanfiction on Tony DiNozzo’s relationship with his mother. Angsty


_Author's Notes: This is a short, totally stand-alone, fanfiction on Tony DiNozzo's mother. According to Gibbs' statement in S2's __The Meat Puzzle__, Tony's mother is dead. Tony has shared a few disturbing childhood memories, which included his mother's Louis XV Phase when he was 5, (S1) the canopy bed with candles, (S3) drinking his sea monkeys instead of her mint julep, and how she dressed him up as a sailor. Just this alone, makes her sound like one eccentric woman. Here's more! I was sitting on this story for a while, finally was brave enough to publish it. :)_

Gibbs entered the squad room to find his desk phone ringing. As he hung up the phone, he turned to see the rest of his team head for their desks.

"We have a veteran that was stabbed at the Ritz-Carlton, during a party last night." Gibbs announced as he grabbed his gun and badge.

"Whoa." DiNozzo said. "Are you serious?"

"Do I look like I am joking, DiNozzo?" Gibbs snapped.

"No. Sorry Boss. It was just that I might have been invited to _that _same party." DiNozzo said. "I didn't go, though last night. . .what was the name of the vet?" DiNozzo asked, nervously.

"I believe dispatch said, Carnahan." Gibbs looked curiously at DiNozzo. Tony swallowed hard at the news, looking down at the elevator floor.

"Oh boy." Tony said quietly. Ziva and McGee turned to look at Tony, who had a questionable look on his face.

"Are you all right?" Ziva asked Tony as the elevator doors opened. Tony was too distracted in his thoughts to even notice that they were all looking at him. Tony followed them to the car without uttering a single word.

"Hey. Talk to me, DiNozzo." Gibbs finally tapped his shoulder, as they opened their car doors. "If you know something about this case. . ."

"Alexander Carnahan is my stepfather. He was the one having the party." Tony started to explain. "His older brother was a vet."

"Your stepfather?" McGee said in surprise. "You still consider him your stepfather?" McGee tried to ask in a compassionate tone.

"Yeah, uh, about my mother. It turns out that she isn't dead after all." Tony said in a nervous laugh. The three of them turned to face him.

"My grandparents had her declared legally dead, since she was gone for fifteen years and never contacted us." DiNozzo started to explain. "She had changed her name and spent fifteen years traveling all of Europe. She got married and moved back to the east coast about six months ago, revealing to all of us that she was very much _alive_."

Gibbs shook his head as he parked. As they entered the lobby, the metro police were conducting interviews. There were guests dressed in tuxedos and glamorous dresses. As they approached, the lead detective filled them in on some of the details, as he escorted them to the suite.

"From what I gather from interviewing these people at the party, every one of them could be considered a suspect." The lead detective added as they approached the room. Ziva turned to see how Tony was handling the words of the detective, only to find that he had disappeared.

"Where is Tony?" Ziva interrupted the detective. Gibbs gave Ziva an irritated glance but still turned to see for himself that Tony was gone. The detective knocked on the door of the suite. As they were lead in by investigators, they found the body lying on the floor near the bar. They took in the mess from the huge party. There were broken champagne glasses near the body, which was lying in a pool of blood.

"We were all listening to my friend, Steven, give a toast, when Jonathon came stumbling in near the bar with a knife in his chest." Alexander Carnahan explained, as he sat on the sofa talking with a detective.

"So you never saw who stabbed him?" The detective asked.

"No, as I said before. We only turned after one of the guests started screaming. We were all faced the other direction." He added. "My wife and I ran over, but he was just bleeding so badly. We couldn't stop the bleeding."

"We'll need the body to conduct an autopsy." Gibbs mentioned softly to the lead detective.

"Let me call the station first." The detective nodded in understanding.

"Where is Tony?" Ziva said again. "I don't think he can be part of this investigation, Gibbs. His mother is also a suspect." Ziva pointed out. Gibbs approached a slightly-opened door that lead to the next suite, where he could just hear Tony's voice.

"I don't think you should be drinking right now." Tony said forcefully with an angry tone. "You are a suspect in a stabbing. And, it is 9am." He was talking to a woman, who was wearing a low-cut, sleeveless, dress, holding a towel filled with ice to her head. Tony was too heated to notice that they were no longer alone. Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee were approaching. The woman was sitting on a bar stool. Tony was standing behind the bar brewing coffee.

"Ohhhhh, I am fine, Babe, don't worry." The woman said, slurring her words. "You of all people, Anthony, should know how well I can handle my liquor. Tony snatched away the champagne bottle she was drinking from and replaced it with a cup of coffee. She didn't seem to notice the change that Tony had made. Tony looked up, horrified, to see Gibbs, Ziva, and McGee standing there, observing him. The woman turned and gave them a drunken smile.

"Are you friends of Anthony?" She said, as she started to stand up. "Here make yourself at home and have a drink." She tried to reach for the champagne bottle that Tony took away. As she did, she started to lose her balance." Tony quickly grabbed one of her arms, while Gibbs moved to grab the other arm, to stable her balance.

"Thank you, Boys," She said. Gibbs quickly let go of her arm, as Tony continued to help her maintain her balance. "I am going to slip into something more comfortable. I'll be right back, Babe." She addressed Tony, caressing his cheek, as she now stood confidently on her own. They all watched as she went into the bedroom and closed the door. Tony turned cautiously to face them. He gave a nervous and slightly embarrassed laugh.

"Well, I would like to introduce you to my mother." Tony smiled uncomfortably and looked down. Gibbs and Ziva just looked at Tony, completely speechless.

"Your _mother!?_" McGee said loudly. "_She_ is your mother?" McGee repeated in disbelief. Tony looked down trying to hide his embarrassment.

"She doesn't even look old enough to be your mother." McGee bluntly pointed out.

"McGee." Ziva said in disgust.

"You are messing with us, Tony." McGee stated with a laugh.

"McGee!" Gibbs even wanted McGee to stop his inappropriate timing for starting the typical McGee/DiNozzo teasing exchange.

"Look, she had me when she was nineteen, all right? And, she . . .she has had some _work _done." DiNozzo said defensively. He said it such in a way that would normally make them laugh, if they had not just seen her with their own eyes. All three of them were now speechless and just watching and waiting for DiNozzo's next move.

"Boss?" Tony finally broke away from his deep thoughts, while staring at the floor.

"Tony?" Gibbs said softly, when Tony got quiet again.

"I don't think I can. . .I don't think I should be part of this investigation." Tony said worriedly.

"Can. . .can I go home?" Tony asked with a grimace.

Gibbs nodded slowly, regarding Tony with his concerned glimpses. Tony gave him a grateful smile and turned.

"I'll call a cab." Tony said as he turned away from them.

"Tony, your mother. She said she would be right back." Ziva said with wide eyes, as she pointed her head toward the closed, bedroom door.

"Oh, she is passed out on the bed." Tony said sadly and confidently, turning back to face them. "You can check if you want, Ziva, but I am sure she is still in her dress lying face down on the quilt." Ziva could not help but look, after hearing Tony's words. She knocked quietly on the door, and then turned the knob so that she could enter. Sure enough, lying face down, asleep, on top of the quilt was Tony's mother, still in her dress. Gibbs and McGee could see inside the room as well. Gibbs turned to face Tony who was dialing a number on his cell phone as he started to leave the suite.

"Hey, Tony." Gibbs said softly, which caused Tony to close his phone and turn. "Give me a minute to talk to the lead detective, all right. Then, I'll drive you home." Tony turned in surprise of Gibbs' words. "_If _you still want to go home."

"We shouldn't be investigating this either." Gibbs pointed out to McGee and Ziva in a whisper. "Someone else from NCIS should be handling this that does not work this closely with Tony." They both nodded. The team approached Tony. Gibbs patted him on the back and went to talk to the detective.

The End~

This was dark--comes from the soap opera fan in me and from the tidbits that Tony has dropped.

Thank you for reading and for your feedback!


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